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NYS Sues LI Settlement with Discrimination Suit for Housing Ex-Nazis

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German American settlement league to be sued for housing discrimination 

The State is spearheading a campaign to dismantle a commonly known settlement for Nazi sympathizers on Long Island. As part of an anti-discrimination case, the State will force the German American Settlement League to abide by current state and federal housing laws. According to the New York Post, the league will be forced to end its policies, which currently limit ownership of property to people of German descent.

Historically, the settlement honored and revered the Nazi party, and sympathized with its agenda all throughout World War II. The League has named streets after Adolf Hitler and other Third Reich figures, holding pro-Nazi rallies and marches at Camp Siegfried. 

The Nazi settlements in America were originally founded by the German-American Bund, which was known for establishing German American pro-Nazi settlements in America. 

The genesis of these settlements began in the 1930s, when there was omnipresent post-World War I hysteria among many some Americans. 

The Long Island settlement was especially destructive because the parents of Nazi sympathizer would enroll their children summer camps that would indoctrinate them into the Nazi philosophy. 

At Camp Sigfried, Aryan-American families would be indoctrinated into the philosophy of Hitlerian fascism in the lead up to World War II. 

The camp would intentionally exclude people that were not of Aryan or German descent. The members of Camp Sigfried would often dress in Nazi attire. 

After the end of the Second World War, membership in the settlement community waned and the land was confiscated by the FBI. After several lawsuits, the German American Settlement League reclaimed land ownership. 

The current suit, which was settled out of Court, will include a change in leadership as well as an end to current discriminatory housing practices. 

Some residents maintain that discrimination on who gets to live within the community is not really effective policy anyway in the present time. Fred Stern, a member of the league’s board and a 40-year old resident told the Post. “There’s a mixed bag; it’s not like it was….it’s not like whatever they’re saying. If you went to every house and asked people’s nationality, it wouldn’t be any different than any other neighborhood.” 

Kaitlyn Webber, another local resident maintained that the lawsuit was ill-founded, as her “family’s always been very open. We’ve never had any issues with anyone discriminating against anyone up here.” 

Two former residents of the settlement, however, allege that the German-American Settlement League’s staunch policies have hindered them from selling their homes. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman emphasized that the league “continued to make new membership and property re-sale within the GASL community unreasonably difficult.”

By: Kristina Stukalenko 

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